He searched online and found that heavy soil minerals are mostly used as fusion intermediaries for other alloys to enhance hardness.
By mid-afternoon, Zhang Huaiyuan arrived with a total of five transport ships. The price of the metal materials had reached a new high this time, a total of twenty million.
A bonus of ten million, five million awarded by Dean Chen, and another five million basically taken from the lab for free.
The people in the lab, initially shocked and astonished, had now become numb, only occasionally surprised by the increasing quantities.
"Brother Ming," Zhang Huaiyuan hurried over when he saw Li Ming waving at him.
"I heard you’ve already become an E-class life form," Li Ming asked. The night of the exchange conference, when Zhang Huaiyuan and others went to see him, he had learned this news.
But there were too many people at that time, and they didn’t have a chance to talk.
"Yes, the approval from the school only came through the week before last," Zhang Huaiyuan replied with a wry smile. He had already reached F-class 100% at the time of his entrance assessment.
Even though he was a student in the key training program, the resources he received were limited. He had to first submit an application, then go through an approval process, and finally purchase the E-class gene seed at market price.
"Uh-huh, Xunying Company is thinking about expanding its business on Silver Grey Star. Does your family have any thoughts on this?" Li Ming asked casually.
That night Deng Bo had mentioned this to him, clearly aiming to return the favor to Li.
Yang Peng was still a city guard and obviously not suited to take over. Zhang Huaiyuan had been diligent and conscientious during this period and was a good candidate.
"Xunying Company!" Zhang Huaiyuan’s eyes widened, his heart filled with immense excitement, "Ming, Brother Ming..."
Xunying Company was an interstellar conglomerate spanning civilizations. Even though it couldn’t compare to Star Creation Company, it was still a massive entity, while his family merely had a small local influence on Silver Grey Star.
Even if not fabulously wealthy, it was an opportunity.
"Go back and tell your father; here is Deng Bo’s contact information." Li Ming tossed a business card. Zhang Huaiyuan hurriedly caught it, feeling dizzy.
Zhang Huaiyuan left in a daze. Twenty million worth of Flame Blue Alloy had filled half of the expanded workshop. Rubbing his hands together, Li Ming was highly anticipatory.
The entire day, Li Ming’s metal energy balance reached 330,000 points, setting a new record.
"Too bad, 300,000 isn’t enough to upgrade the Controlled Objects to B-class." Li Ming was insatiable.
Currently, the lowest upgrade requirement for Controlled Objects in terms of metal energy was probably the detection device, but only in its normal state.
Like the Meditation Crystal, this variation of a gene detection device enhanced with special energy, if one wanted to upgrade further, it would require at least 500,000 metal energy points.
People are always greedy... Li Ming suppressed his thoughts, his gaze falling on the royal combat armor.
In recent days, the workshop had been expanding continuously, and he hadn’t had a chance to control it, postponing it until now.
Thirty thousand points of metal energy were consumed, and the royal combat armor disappeared, a prompt popped up on the Control Page.
[Knight Skills Advanced, occupational acquisition—Knight, do you wish to use Controlled Objects to solidify this occupation?]
Li Ming looked closely—
[Knight: proficiently mastering Knight Skills, possessing the abilities of [Charge] and [Knight Breathing Technique].]
[Charge: when driving a vehicle, can temporarily boost the vehicle’s speed by 100%.]
[Knight Breathing Technique: amplifies strength by 100%]
[Charge] was standard and required a vehicle to use, which limited its utility.
But the permanent power amplification of [Knight Breathing Technique] made Li Ming’s eyes sparkle.
He didn’t hesitate and permanently solidified it.
A familiar sensation hit him, as ancient Knight Skills integrated into Li Ming’s mind and muscles, mainly being a type of vehicle combat technique.
Yet it was not only about combat on horseback; it also included modern techniques like motorcycle and shooting from vehicle windows.
"Truly keeping up with the times," he shook his head, only to see another new prompt pop up on the Control Bar.
[Swordsmanship and Knight share common traits, do you want to merge them?]
These two occupations could be merged?
Surprised, Li Ming pondered over this, and based on his previous experience with merging, the merged occupation was likely to be stronger. So he decided to merge them.
[Occupational merging, acquired a new occupation—Sword Wing Knight]
Li Ming instantly felt a momentary weakness in his body due to the disappearing enhancements from [Knight Breathing Technique] and [Sword Control], but soon a fuller feeling surged, making him want to vent it.
[Sword Wing Knight: proficiently mastering related knowledge and skills, possessing the abilities of [Sword Armor] and [Sword Wing Breathing Method].]
[Sword Armor: can attach personal abilities to the sword body and to vehicles.]
[Sword Wing Breathing Method: amplifies strength by 150%, stamina by 150%.]
Tsch... quite the Sword Wing Knight, with both power enhancement and stamina enhancement not only merged but also each increased by 50%, this was already not a loss.
[Sword Armor] was further enhancement of [Sword Control], allowing abilities to be further amplified on vehicles.
"I’ve even become an Evil Spirit Knight," Li Ming chuckled, already picturing himself riding a flaming motorcycle. Then, he suddenly froze:
"Wait, does combat armor count as a vehicle?"
His heart trembled as he started experimenting immediately, Tank Guard 211 materialized, covering his whole body with thick black armor.
Then, electric arcs churned on the metal surface, forming dazzling blue patterns, magnificent and radiant.
Fierce flames surged out from the gaps in the armor, not damaging the structure; instead, they clung to it in a strange way, enhancing the armor’s performance.
"It actually works." Li Ming’s eyes lit up, as this was a formidable ability, readily blocking the release of life forms’ own abilities, also being a drawback of combat armor.